The local alternative medicine college is offering a course on Basic Cadaver Anatomy, with a special focus on Acupuncture and Acupressure points. A few highlights (as if you needed them!)
1. No mention that you will be unlikely to find any physical structures in the body related to the flow of qi that is the entire premise of acupuncture.
2. The instructor is a DVM!
3. “Please note that Dr. Love is sensitive to your concerns about mortality and the body as a vessel of the spirit.” Yep.
4. There is no herbal remedy for exposure to formaldehyde, so you’ll have to wear a respirator.
October Reading
Darth Vader and Son, Jeffrey Brown
A gentle combination of Star Wars jokes and Having a Son jokes. Nothing groundbreaking, but nice.
Dead Mann Running, Stefan Petrucha
Sequel to Dead Mann Walking, it brings the creepy noir mystery and heart-pounding chase again. So great.
Accidental Salad, Joe Decie
Part of a new series of large-format books for comics artists, this one really deserves it. The comics are often thoughtful and atmospheric, in gorgeous ink wash. Decie’s work can be seen here.
Modern Age Meditation: Weather Radio
Have a listen to a calm and even automated voice telling you about the weather.
Cuckoo’s Egg Review
Cuckoo’s Egg, Cherryh. Yes. I don’t know why I had chosen never to read Cherryh over the years, but this came up as a book club selection, and I rather enjoyed it. I am a sucker for books that keep me wondering what the hell is going on without cheating, and this one executed that quite nicely. More Cherryh will very likely be coming up in book club.
Dead Mann Running Review
Dead Mann Running, Petrucha. Yes. Sequel to Dead Mann Walking (will Flying be next?). Petrucha’s world continues to entertain me. I will be interested to see how sustainable the various premises will be, assuming Petrucha continues to write in this world. I would like to be optimistic, despite some reservations. On the other hand, maybe it is planned to be closed-ended.
September Reading
Lost and Found, Jeffers
A very very very sweet picture book about a boy and a lost penguin– or is he found?? Oh my goodness, so great.
The Incredible Book Eating Boy, Jeffers
I liked this picture book, too, and the backgrounds for the paintings are book pages and covers.
The Hueys in The New Sweater, Jeffers
This was more abstract, about a trend in a group of identical Hueys. It’s a series?
Three Word Phrase: Volume One, Pequin
Great collection, nice and dark. Mmmm. Check out the online comic and buy the book to support the arts/
Mail-order mysteries: real stuff from old comic book ads! / by Kirk Demarais
Those intriguing ads in comic books paired with what you actually got. This satisfied a near-lifelong curiosity. Many of the items I saw in Archie McPhee’s, back when they were on Stone Way.
Master of deceit : J. Edgar Hoover and America in the age of lies / Marc Aronson
Very complete book on a mind-bogglingly influential, secretive, and controlling person. Lots of primary source material and does a really good job of putting events in their cultural and chronological context. Recommended and an unsettling companion to many of the dog-whistle phrases during the election.
Modern Age Meditation: Motels
More motel post cards, you guys.
August Reading
The Best American Crime Writing, 2006
I’m working my way through the volumes I haven’t read, now that the series seems to have ended. One essay made me wonder if I had read and then forgotten this one. Nope, it was an essay on someone who had been in a previous volume for a previous crime.
Thicker Than Water, Carey
I’ve been saving the installments of the Felix Castor series for when I really need a fast-moving paranormal noir mystery. Good stuff, though the gradual reveal of the truth behind the new cosmology of a world with returning dead is limiting Our Hero’s actions more and more…
Player of Games Review
The Player of Games, Banks. Yes. Not the fastest-moving, and there is a particular plot point that annoyed me at the time and that I’m still not sure I get the point of, but overall a fine book.
Mercury Review
Mercury: An Intimate Biography of Freddie Mercury, Jones. Non-fiction. This seemed at least as much a survey of other writings as an intimate biography, though Jones does eventually get down to a substantial amount of original reporting. I was pleased that there is less tittle-tattle than I feared there might be; with the subject’s prodigious appetites, though, it would be unrealistic to expect any biography not to touch on his various excesses (and disingenuous of a biographer to pretend they did not exist). Given its survey nature, there is quite a bit of “Person A described events this way, but Person B disagreed.” While that was somewhat unsatisfying, I think on reflection I need to give Jones credit for not cherry-picking stories to fit a chosen narrative. After all, people are complicated, and eyewitness testimony is notoriously unreliable. Still, I can’t recommend it for any but the most dedicated fans.